


Birdsong

by distractedKat



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-16
Updated: 2011-03-16
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:49:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractedKat/pseuds/distractedKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not many people (but a steadily growing number) knew that Robin could sing, and that sometimes he didn’t even really realize what he was doing.</p><p>From the YJ anon meme</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tidal Wave - Artemis

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on the YJ meme. So many of them were showing up here that I thought I'd add mine, too!
> 
>  _Original prompt:_
> 
>  _Robin sings like an angel. Each member of the team hears him at different times. It's so natural he never notices when he begins to sing._
> 
>  __

It wasn’t the kind of sound she expected to hear coming from the training room, which was why Artemis followed it in the first place.

But whatever she’d expected was not what she found.

 _“I forget the last time I felt brave; I just recall insecurity.”_

The sound echoed in the room, unintentional acoustics bouncing the melody from the roof to all the hidden corners and back.

 _“'Cause it came down like a tidal wave, and sorrow swept over me.”_

She stepped quietly just inside the door, hidden by the shadows, and looked around cautiously. It couldn’t be a radio; there wasn’t any accompaniment or white noise or—

 _“And I was given grace and love; I was blind but now I can see.”_

Music drew her eyes up. Robin was there, perched casually among what looked like an aerial jungle gym, singing to himself, voice clear and pure, ringing in her ears like bells and laughter.

 _“'Cause I found a new hope from above, and courage swept over me.”_

He was using a tool of some kind to connect two long pieces of pipe above his head, the song tumbling absently as he worked. Artemis couldn’t help taking just one more step inside, had to get even a bit closer to that unexpected concert.

Which was, of course, when he noticed her.

He turned to look back over his shoulder, zeroing in on her in less time than it had taken her to notice him suspended in the air. A wide grin curved his mouth. “Hey, Artemis. What’s up?”

She ticked an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms as though it had always been her intention to interrupt his…whatever he was doing. “Besides you?”

His snicker echoed like the song as he spread his arms to indicate the…whatever. “You like?”

“What is it?”

“Batman thinks I’m ignoring some of my essential training.” The Boy Wonder finished attaching the pipes and fell backward, tumbling between bars like a monkey until he landed on a beam that was almost as thick as one of his feet. “So he sent me the pieces for a rig and told me to spend a couple hours a week with it.” He spread his arms, steadying his balance before launching into a series of back-flips—all with his hands still out by his sides. The last flip launched him into the air, and Artemis felt her heart seize when he reached for a bar and missed.

He laughed—at her expression, she was sure—and shot a grappling line that deposited him safely in the bowls of his sky-born deathtrap.

“You’re such a troll,” she huffed.

He laughed again, scaling the rig until he was near the topmost corner. Then he pulled his…whatever tool out again and continued tinkering. “Feel free to pull up a seat,” he teased.

“Just so you know, I’m not cleaning the mess up up when you fall and crack your head open.”

“That’d be a downer,” he snickered.

“Whatever.” She turned to walk away, waving her hand dismissively. “Don’t stay up all night, kid. You know how that bunches Black Canary’s tights.”

“Sure thing, Mom.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Artemis called.

She heard his psych patient laugh, heard his attention zero in on his project, and ducked behind the doorway to wait.

Twenty minutes later, she heard him forget himself.

 _“It hurts just to wake up whenever you’re wearing thin. Alone on the outside, so tired of looking in.”_

Huh.

 _“The end is uncertain, and I’ve never been so afraid.”_

So Robin was a songbird after all.

 _“But I don’t need a telescope to see that there’s hope, and that makes me feel brave.”_

Who knew?


	2. The Bird And The Worm - Kaldur

Batman made them go back to the aquarium because of what he called “extreme and superfluous property damage”.

(Robin tried to point out that the damage was actually kind of ’fluous, all things considered, and even the League destroyed things when they fought baddies. Batman was unmoved.)

The aquarium was grateful for their assistance, and front page news of Young Justice volunteering to repair destruction caused by criminals would help their budding reputation, so mostly they tried to put on the appearance of not minding.

They spread throughout the building, each of them assigned a project that best matched their skillsets. Kid Flash was reconstructing the giftshop displays. Miss Martian and Superboy were tasked with fixing damage to the support structures that might prevent non-meta humans from coming in later to lay more plaster. Artemis had been given a tube of aquarium sealant and pointed in the direction of a long series of cracks in a few of the smaller tanks. Robin was rewiring the power in the main tide pool environment.

Kaldur went to the fish.

He moved from tank to tank, soothing sea life to prevent unnecessary stress-related health issues. Their distress over the events of the evening was unfortunate but easily comforted. In all, Kaldur had participated in much less pleasant after-mission activities. His time with the fish was actually enjoyable, once their first flush of panic passed.

Forty minutes later, something…strange happened.

The fish in the main tide pool began chattering among themselves, bewildered and captivated by an event they didn’t recognize. Kaldur decided to investigate, moving through interconnected environments until he was in a tank that formed one of the walls of the tide pool room.

The thing that so amazed the fish was Robin.

 _“You and and I left our troubles far behind.”_

He was _singing._

 _“But I still have just one question on my mind.”_

The fish were gathered below the beam where he sat surrounded by wires from a gutted control panel, fixing some of the damage they’d caused earlier. His attention was fully devoted to his task, so much so that absentminded music was escaping him, ringing throughout the room and thoroughly entertaining his unwitting audience.

 _“For all my friends who live in the oceans and the seas.”_

Robin paused for a minute, grinning widely before looking down into the tide pool.

 _“With fronds like these, well, who needs anemones?”_

He laughed brightly, twisting wires together with a shake of his head before resuming his thoughtless song.

Kaldur smiled, tilting his head to rest against that of the octopus that had cuddled against him while he watched Robin.

There were definitely worse ways to spend post-mission hours.


	3. The Saltwater Room - Superboy

Superboy was bored.

Black Canary was on some League mission and couldn’t train him; Kaldur was in meditation; everyone else was in the kitchen with M'gann, _baking_.

Well, no, Robin wasn’t. Last thing Superboy had heard, Robin was doing some manual upgrades of perimeter security.

…That had to be more interesting than watching Kid Flash try not to get killed by Artemis while M'gann tried not to burn cookies.

So Superboy set out into the twilight, listening for the mechanical tinkering of Robin installing better cameras (or whatever).

What he heard was singing.

 _“You happened to look and see the tunnels all around me.”_

He’d never heard someone actually _sing_ before; it was different than a recording. More…

 _“Running into the dark underground, all the subways around create a great sound.”_

More real, maybe. He followed it to Robin, approaching the small figure crouched half-hidden in shadows.

 _“To my motion fatigue: farewell. With your ear to a seashell”_

Robin didn’t seem like he knew Superboy was there, but then Robin almost never let the others know when he first recognized their appearance, just grinned instead of jumping whenever they were sure he hadn’t heard them.

 _“You can hear the waves in underwater caves, as if you actually were inside a saltwater room.”_

And anyway, as long as he kept singing, Superboy didn’t much care whether or not Robin knew he was there. (He probably did, which still didn’t matter.)

But he didn’t keep singing.

He drew a breath as though he meant to, then that breath hitched in his chest, and his busy hands stilled.

After a few seconds, Superboy prompted, “Is that the end?

Robin didn’t startle or seem surprised that Superboy was there. He just…wilted, a little, his hands lowering a degree. “…Kind of.” He turned his head away, so Superboy didn’t even get a masked profile to search for clues. “The next part is the chorus. It’s a duet. …It used to be my mother’s.” His fingers clenched into fists, his slight shoulders bunched tight beneath the line of his cape. “I don’t like singing it for her.”

Superboy tried to think about that, what it meant, where Robin’s mother was, why he wasn’t with her, if they sang together when he was home. (Did they sing while baking? Did that help the cookies not to burn? Was that why Robin never used the kitchen?) There was probably something he was supposed to say, but he didn’t know the words, and Kaldur wasn’t around to help him. And he’d liked Robin’s song. “Can you skip her part?”

A laugh startled out of Robin. He glanced back at Superboy, mouth curved in an expression too gentle to be his usual smirk. “Sure, I guess.” His hands resumed their busywork, and a minute ticked by in silence.

Then he drew a breath.

 _“Can you believe that the crew has gone, and they wouldn’t let me sign on? All my islands have sunk in the deep, so I can hardly relax or even oversleep.”_

Superboy tucked his hands in his pockets, tipped his head back to watch the stars come out, and pretended for the next hour that he was helping with Robin’s task.


	4. Umbrella Beach - M'gann

For once, the mission went perfectly. They collected the intel without being discovered or finding a complication that had to be dealt with immediately. The data Robin transmitted to Batman earned them a rare bit of praise. None of them had been injured. No property had been damaged.

A complete victory.

A good day.

Even Batman said so.

They were not humble or dignified in their joy.

They were, in fact, teenagers.

M’gann giggled as she flew behind Robin on their cross-city trek back to her ship. The Boy Wonder flew in his own way, twisting through the sky in feats of acrobatic skill that took her breath away. Even better than that, though—

 _“Home will always be here”_

He was _singing!_

Bright and cheerful, the lyrics as upbeat as their team.

 _“Unseen, out of sight”_

M’gann hadn’t known that Robin could sing, though it shouldn’t have surprised her, she knew. Hello, Megan! His laughter is musical, isn’t it!

 _“Where I disappear and hide”_

She wished she knew how to sing in the Earth style, so she could join in. Maybe he would teach her later?

 _“I think dreamy things as I’m waving goodbye.”_

He landed on a rooftop, running just enough to gain momentum for a tumbling act that made M’gann break into laud applause. His last aerial twist set him on the balls of his feet at the very edge of the roof, arms spread as though he could embrace the sky.

 _“So I’ll spread out my wings…and fly!”_

Before she could stop him, he tipped backward off the building, flipping recklessly through the air until his quick save by grappling line. His laughter added a new note, more layers to the song. And even though he was a terrible boy for frightening her on purpose…

 _“I’ll spread my wings and fly!”_

She could not help but laugh along.


	5. Meteor Shower - Wally

Wally had no idea what was going on, except that it was Bad.

The Justice League—or at least Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash—almost never made guest appearances at Young Justice HQ. So for them to be there—

They pulled Robin aside, called him into the training room where no one (not ever Super ears) could hear, and told him something that made him shake off the comforting hand Superman had set on his shoulder. (Of course Wally saw the whole thing; that’s what super speed was _for_ , to zip around corners and watch the really important stuff go down.)

Robin shook his head when Superman reached for him again. He took a step back, hitting away Barry’s arm and dodging Wonder Woman when they each tried to take Superman’s place.

Then Robin ran.

Less than a minute later, Wally heard one of the ’cycles Batman had given them roar into life. He ran to the hanger just in time to see Robin race away. He could have followed.

He went back to the training room instead. “What happened?” he asked.

They wouldn’t tell him.

It took him two hours to track Robin’s bike. It was on its side in a hospital parking lot, abandoned there by its rider.

Robin was in the hospital.

After a quick costume change (no need to draw attention if he didn’t have to), Wally poked through the hospital, investigating for his best friend.

(If he’d changed out of his Robin gear, how would Wally recognize him? Black hair wasn’t exactly a recessive trait.)

In the end, and by sheer luck, he was able to follow his ears.

Not many people (but a steadily growing number) knew that Robin could sing, and that sometimes he didn’t even really realize he was doing. But he also fell back on singing when he was stressed, or deeply upset, or just generally not “feeling the ‘aster”. Wally had heard Robin sing on numerous occasions for numerous reasons.

None of those occasions ever scared him so badly as this one.

 _“I can finally see,”_ he heard, sneaking toward what he was pretty sure was the right room, _“that you’re right there beside me.”_

He ducked his head inside, green eyes immediately landing on the slim form of a young boy, back to the door in a hospital chair, sitting by the bedside of a large man whose shoulders and head were hidden by a curtain.

 _“I am not my own”_

Robin was clutching the unconscious man’s hand, desperation thick in his soft song.

 _"For I have been made new.”_

Whoever that was, the League knew him. He was important to Robin.

…Holy shit.

 _“Please don’t let me go.”_

That was _Batman._

 _“I desperately need you.”_

A hand landed on Wally’s shoulder. He looked back to find Uncle Barry watching the exchange, too. When Robin dropped forward to tuck his forehead against Batman’s side, Barry gently pulled Wally away.

“This isn’t our show, kid. Let’s go.”

“But Robin’s my friend,” Wally protested. “He needs me!”

“They aren’t suited up, Wally. No masks, no sunglasses.” Barry shook his head, frustration dark in his eyes. “You don’t have to like his stance on Rob’s ID, but I do expect you to respect it. Now let’s get out of here.”

Wally didn’t want to. He wanted to go back to the room, to grab Robin up in a big hug, to stay with him until Batman opened his eyes.

But those eyes were unmasked, and Wally couldn’t know who they were.

 _“I am not my own, for I have been made new.”_

So for the sake of his friend, he grit his teeth and clenched his fists.

 _“Please don’t let me go.”_

And walked away.

 _“I desperately need you.”_


	6. Fireflies

M’gann heard him first.

When they figured out that Robin was planning to do some upgrades to the firewall on their main computer, the rest of the team had traded quiet glances, each fighting against an expression of excitement or glee.

Then gave him about an hour, then started surreptitiously monitoring his activity, sneaking by in shifts to listen for the moment when he got deep enough into the project that he forgot himself.

It was M’gann’s turn when it finally happened.

 _“I’d like to make myself believe”_

She sent a quick mental squeal to everyone but Robin (Hello, Megan, _duh_!), settling herself high in the rafters above Robin’s head so he wouldn’t notice her (probably). The others crept in just as quietly, arranging themselves in the shadows to listen.

 _“That planet Earth turns slowly”_

They weren’t sure if he knew about their tendency to gather when Robin began his absentminded concerts, but as long as he never told them to stop, they weren’t going to offer.

 _“It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay away when I’m asleep.”_

His songs were calming, a balm for their too-stressful lives, a sweet gift that he might not even mean to give them.

It was another layer to this thing they were building called family.

 _“Because my dreams are bursting at the seams.”_

He fell silent, and for a moment M’gann felt the spiderweb connection linking her to the others resonate with their disappointment.

Then Robin’s smirk flashed bright in all their minds, although his fingers never stilled. “Anything in particular you want to hear?" he asked teasingly. "Not to brag or anything, but it’s pretty whelming how many songs I know. Part of a well-rounded education.”

For a moment, they were stunned into silence. How had he known that—

Well, he was Robin. Of _course_ he knew.

So M’gann laughed and flew close and made the first request.


End file.
